A Texas creditor who has a secured interest in your collateral such as television, appliances, electronics, or automobile, has the ability to take your property if you default under the terms of the contract. The creditor are not allowed to breach the peace nor enter your home unless you permit them to enter. If you are not answering the door, the creditor can petition the state court for a writ of replevin. In creditors’ rights law, replevin, sometimes known as “claim and delivery,” is a legal remedy for a person to recover goods unlawfully withheld from his or her possession, by means of a special form of legal process in which a court may require a defendant to return specific goods to the plaintiff at the outset of the action (i.e. before judgment). Repossession of personal property in Texas can be stayed by filing either a chapter 13 or a chapter 7 bankruptcy. In a chapter 7 bankruptcy you are required to either surrender the property, redeem it, or reaffirm, but this is done during the bankruptcy process When the case is first filed, there is a window of about 75 days before you must act to do one of the above three acts mentioned .
In a chapter 13 bankruptcy, you can stay the repossession of the collateral and also could cure it over time. Thus you may be able to lower the interest or principal owed on the property that is being paid in the bankruptcy. This is called a “cram down“. Cram down sometimes can be on Houses if there is a 2nd lien or a homeowners association debt outstanding.